The Stranger
by Pipermint
Summary: One very confused girl. One very confused sister. Will they help each other out? Will Phoebe save the girl before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1

A/n- be nice! Tell me what you think, be honest.   
when the ~~~ comes it's because the point of view has changed from the girl to Phoebe and vise versa.   
D/c- I don't own Charmed bla bla bla...  
  
She stared out the window, out into the pouring rain. She wondered why life was the way it was. She hugged her knees and out the window she looked, nothing else seemed important, life just didn't seem worth living anymore, and yet she couldn't bring herself to do anything that would end it all. She laid her head down on the pillow, hugged her stuffed cat, and slowly drifted away into an innocent sleep, into a dream land where everything was perfect and no harm could be done.  
  
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Paige woke up and got dressed. On her way downstairs, she tripped on a shoe.  
  
"Phoebe, what did I tell you about leaving your shoes around? Someone could get hurt!"  
  
She went into the kitchen. Piper was sitting there, sipping her coffee and reading the newspaper. "She's not here," Piper said. "She spent the night out again."  
  
"She needs to start being responsible. She can't be out partying every night! She needs to get a job, she needs to be a woman!" Paige exclaimed.  
  
"Let her be, Paige. As long as she is well," Piper said calmly.  
  
"But Piper, you and I both know that it is time for her to take some responsibility! I mean look at yourself, you're exhausted, you need to tell her she's not a child anymore, because if you don't, I will," answered Paige.  
  
"It'll be fine, I'll speak to her when she comes back," Piper finally agreed, and went back to reading the newspaper and drinking her coffee.  
  
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"I'll have the pancakes and some orange juice, please," Phoebe tells the waitress. She's in a diner. The walls are painted in a light pink color, an old music box is at the far end of the corner, Phoebe looks around.  
  
A girl wearing baggy jeans and a red top comes in and sits on the table next to Phoebe. She looks up at Phoebe and smiles weakly. Phoebe smiles back and the girl turns away. Suddenly the girls starts sobbing quietly to herself, her long brown hair covers her face as she is facing down. Tears fall on the menu. Phoebe watches her, not knowing whether to go and comfort her or just mind her business.  
  
The girl gets up and leaves. Phoebe watches her run out of the diner. She still questions whether to help, but what position is she in to help when she herself is running away from her problems? The waitress comes back with her order.  
  
"Here you go ma'am," the waitress says, smiling.  
  
"Thanks," replies Phoebe, smiling back. She takes a couple of bites, sips a bit of juice. Gets up leaves the money and the table and walks out.  
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Phoebe opens the door and almost instantly she hears "Phoebe is that you?" it was of course Piper "I need to speak to you. Would you come here please?"  
  
Phoebe drops the keys on the side table and hang her coat. "Coming Piper"  
  
She walks in the living room where Piper is sitting on the couch watching TV. "You rang?" Phoebe says and smiles.  
  
"Where have you been?" Piper says annoyed by Phoebe's disappearance.  
  
"I was out…" Answered Phoebe.   
  
"That much I figured out. Do you know how worried Paige and I get when you do things like that? " Says Piper irritably.  
  
"I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself." Phoebe says and turns away.  
"If you were a big girl, you'd start being more responsible!" Piper yells as Phoebe runs upstairs to her room.  
" You need to star being responsible…" Phoebe mocked "I wish they'd leave me alone I know what I'm doing…" She grabbed her stuff and went to the shower.  
  
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"I wish people would stop telling me what to do. I can't do this anymore…My mother's dead, I have to live with that ass that my father is…I don't see why I have to live. Why did she leave me? "   
  
She sits down pulls her knees under her chin "And then my friends are not even my friends, all they do is pity me. I don't need their pity"   
  
She pulls a bottle out of her bag "The only thing that makes me relax is this shit." She takes a gulp. "Ha, and I'm suppose to thank god for my life? Why thank you lord! Thanks for taking my mother away, thanks for letting me live! It was me who was supposed to die in that accident, not her! If she hadn't begged me not to drive, I would be the one smashed by a bus, I would be gone and I wouldn't be suffering…" She takes another gulp.   
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The next morning.  
  
Phoebe is in the kitchen looking at the classifieds when Piper comes in.  
  
"What are you doing up so early?" Piper questioned.  
  
"I'm being a big girl. I'm gonna go look for a job today." Answered Phoebe still looking at the paper doodling a pen with her fingers.  
  
"Well I'm glad to see you finally got some sense into that head of yours." replied Piper  
  
"Yup, that's me now, sensible Phoebe." said Phoebe, knowing that she didn't really mean that. All she wanted was to make her sister feel better. She knew she hadn't been the best person in the world for the past months, as much as she regretted she knew that not much had changed.  
  
"So find anything yet?" Asked Piper while getting her French toast.  
"Not much. There's one looking for a receptionist at the that restaurant downtown. "Aurora " I believe the name is." answered Phoebe.  
  
"It's a good place. Leo and I went there once." said Piper without looking at her sister. Phoebe nodded and ran her eyes throughout the paper. Her mind was no longer there, she was thinking of the girl she saw yesterday in the diner. She wondered what happened to the girl, she wondered why she was crying…Suddenly she felt a nudge.   
  
"You alright there partner?" asked Paige  
"Paige! Hey, yeah." Phoebe woke up out of her trance "Just thinking about what job to get. I guess I'll be going now. " she got up, got her stuff which was lying on the table. Just as she was leaving the kitchen she turned around and said "I love you guys." with a faint smile she left.  
..........................................................  
  
Just as Phoebe turned around the corner she saw the girl. This time she didn't hesitate, she stopped the car and chased the girl.  
  
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She felt someone grab her arm, she turned around to see a young woman with brown hair wearing fairly tight clothes. She looked slightly familiar.   
"Hi, I'm Phoebe." The woman announced and extended her hand towards the girl.  
"Do I know you?" She said.  
  
"I saw you in the diner yesterday." Phoebe replied.  
  
"Yes, and what do you want from me?"   
  
"I just thought we could talk, you seemed so upset yesterday." Said Phoebe now feeling very awkward, maybe she shouldn't have stopped.  
  
The girl looked at her with a suspicious look in her eye "You're not one of my father's friends are you?" she questioned.  
  
"No. I don't even know you." Phoebe answered honestly.  
  
The girl smiled. "I'm Sarah. Nice to meet you Phoebe." she dove in and hugged Phoebe. 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I forgot to thank Kayla for helping me with the first chapter. Thanks Kay. Well here is the new chapter. Enjoy the crappiness.  
  
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Phoebe returned the hug "Sarah, what's going on?"   
  
Sarah let go and looked at Phoebe "You see…I can't talk about this here. Can we go somewhere?" Phoebe nodded and drove Sarah to the manor.  
  
"Okay, when I open the door run upstairs. I don't want my sister questioning why you're here now, I think you've had enough." Phoebe told Sarah. Sarah nodded. She opened the door only to find Piper standing at the entrance hall.  
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"So Phoebe, how did the interview go?" Piper asked with her arms crossed.   
  
Phoebe slapped her forehead and smiled "Interview…It went great?"  
  
Piper glared at her. "And who might this young lady be?" She moved Phoebe out of the way to see Sarah.   
  
"I'm Sarah." She smiled.   
  
"Well, come in." Piper told her and smiled back.  
  
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Sitting in the living room.  
  
"So, what brings you to this part of the city?" Piper asked  
"Phoebe." Sarah giggled. And ate one of the cookies Piper brought her.  
Piper smiled and looked at Phoebe. "Sarah would you excuse Phoebe and I for a minute?"   
  
Piper grabbed Phoebe by the arm and led her to the kitchen. "Okay, so who's she?"  
  
Phoebe sighed "She's the girl I saw at the dinner yesterday. She's deeply upset and I thought I could help."   
  
"Phoebe, what if a demon attacks! Then how are you going to explain that to her?" Piper questioned Phoebe.  
  
"Piper, just…" Phoebe looked away. "You just don't understand."  
  
"Pheebs, what's up? " She sat next to Phoebe. "You know you can talk to me. You've always been able to before. What happened to the always perky, pink loving, smiley Phoebe I knew?" Piper hugged Phoebe just as she started to cry.  
  
"Piper, you know I love you…but I just have to solve this by myself." Phoebe hugged her older sister. "We should go check on Sarah. I do believe her problems are far more complicated than mine." Phoebe wiped her eyes and smiled.   
  
They went to the living room only to find it empty. Phoebe found a note.   
"Dear Phoebe and Piper,  
Thank you for bringing me into your house. Thanks for trying to help, and don't worry about me. I'm fine.  
  
  
Sincerely ,  
Sarah.  
P.S.: Thanks for the delish cookies Piper, took some with me if you don't mind."  
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"These are really great cookies" Says Sarah to herself while eating on of Piper's cookies.  
  
"They're really nice and stuff but I couldn't possibly let them worry over me…plus when people try to help things just get worse." She eats the rest of the cookie just as she reaches an old white house.  
  
She opens the door. "Yo pops, I'm home. Miss me?" She stares at her sleeping father. She looks nothing like him, he's old, his beer belly hangs over his pants.   
  
"Oh it's you. There's diner in the fridge." He tells her without taking his eyes off the tv.   
  
She shakes her head and starts picking up stuff off the floor. "You know pops, it wouldn't hurt you to keep this house organized." she tells him annoyed by the mess.  
  
"You're never here. What difference does it make for you anyway? I'm the only one who lives here." He tells her.  
  
She rolls her eyes and goes up to her room. "I can't believe this!!" she runs downstairs  
  
"What did I tell you about going into my room? Did you see what it looks like now?" She questioned him furious at the mess he left in her room.   
  
"I needed money for beer!" He turns around and tells her.  
  
She picks up her stuff and leaves again. 


	3. Chapter 3

"Thursday   
  
I can't believe social services would let me live in a house like that…my big fat rat dad does nothing but sleep and watch TV…Sometimes I think he does both at the same time. How the hell does he pay bills when he's not even working?" Sarah wrote down in her diary "that magazine was telling the truth when it said that keeping a diary can relieve stress, at least I'm not keeping this stuff inside…well gotta go my friends are here." She put the diary back in her bag.   
  
"Hey guys!" She put on a smile and high fived her guy friends and hugged her girlfriends.  
  
"Sarah why do we always meet in this old factory?" A girl asked.  
  
"You see Mel this place is old and abandoned…No one could find me here except you guys, plus the cops wouldn't come looking for us here. Did you bring what I asked you for?" She questioned another girl.  
  
"Yeah…Sar are you sure you should be drinking? I mean…" The girl sighed and gave her the bottle.   
  
"Kate…don't question, you're my friend right? And you want me to be happy don't you? Well you're helping out a lot!" Sarah smiled at her friend who didn't say anything.  
  
"Oh let me tell you guys how this woman who saw me at the dinner yesterday found me in the street and took me to her house because she wanted to "help" me." They all faced her and listened as she told them about Phoebe and Piper.  
  
"Wow see, there's actually people who care about others they don't even know" She told them and lit a cigarette. They all looked at her.   
  
"Sar, are you sure you're okay?" Kate asked.  
"Yeah I'm fine. So how are you guys?" She asked them just as she jumped on the back of one of her friends.   
  
"Quite alright…We miss you at school though…" Melissa said.  
  
"That's sweet Mel, but I'm not going back, the only thing worth going back there for is you guys, but 6 hours of facing teachers and guidance counselors is just so useless. So I rather see you girls around here than going to that forsaken place."  
  
"Sarah watch out!" Kate yelled as one of their guy friends picked Sarah up  
  
"Mwahahaha! King Kong likes pretty girl!" He twirled her  
  
She laughed "King Kong put pretty girl down!"  
  
"NO! King Kong keep pretty girl!" he stopped twirling her and smiled at her.  
  
"King Kong has really nice hair" She giggled and kissed his nose.  
He kissed her forehead and put her down. "I really miss you, you know?" He told her.  
  
"Well then come see me more often…" She replied.  
  
"Why won't you come back? Please Sar? I miss skipping classes with you!" He told her.  
  
"I'm surprised you haven't replaced me yet…There are prettier girls in school you know." She gazed into his eyes.  
  
"Sarah don't be silly, you know I love you. No one can replace you." He hugged her.  
  
"Oh Kev…" she hugged him back and heard her friends awing in the back and smiled.  
  
"Oh you guys are ever so immature!" She started chasing them.  
  
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Phoebe entered the kitchen and found Piper kissing Leo.  
  
"oops…don't mind me just getting a glass of juice." She smiled and went to the fridge.   
  
Piper smiled at her sister.   
  
"Well I gotta go, they're calling again…It's bingo night, I'll try to escape and come home early." Leo kissed Piper, smiled at Phoebe and orbed out.  
  
"So, Pheebz…Any news on our fugitive?" Piper asked Phoebe who was eating a grape.  
  
Phoebe shook her head. "I was thinking about her the whole afternoon…I'm still trying to figure what could be wrong with her…If only I had gotten her last name. Why didn't I think of that before, eh?"  
  
Piper hugged her sister "I'm pretty sure this isn't the last time we're going to see her…No one can stay away from my cookies for too long!" Phoebe smiled.   
  
"That's so true! Talking about cookies…" She reached for the jar and got herself one.   
  
"Phoebe anything you wanna tell your older and wiser sister?" Piper sat down and asked.  
  
"Like what?" She nibbled the cookie.  
  
"Ooh I don't know, it's been a while since we've spoken about anything…and when I say anything I mean ANYTHING." As Piper finished the sentence Paige walked in carrying shopping bags.   
  
"A little help?" She said and her sisters went to help her with the groceries.   
  
"Thanks. So how was your day Phoebe?" Paige asked her.  
  
"Okay what is this? What broke? I swear it wasn't me!" Phoebe said raising her arms "I'm innocent sir I promise!" She giggled.  
  
"We're just worried about you that's all. You've just been really distant." Paige replied while putting away the groceries.  
  
"That's sweet you guys. But I promise I'm okay, I'm actually really worried about Sarah…It's amazing how you can connect to a perfect stranger." She told them eating more grapes.  
  
"Yes, specially with us. We're always meeting strangers." Piper replied helping Paige.  
  
"and strange things!" Paige added and smiled.  
  
Phoebe let out a sigh. "You know…I just might as well tell you why I've been so "distant"."   
  
Her sisters faced her.  
  
"You see, I've been thinking a lot about how much suffering there is in this world. Just our lives for example. We lost our mother when we were children, our father left us. But luckily enough we had Grams who took care of us. And there's Paige's life…A love child…or shall I say a forbidden love child, given up to adoption, grew up as a rebel, lost her parents and later found out she had sisters…witch sisters. It's just that nothing in this world is perfect, there's more suffering than love…it just seems so much easier to be a pessimist than an optimist. I just feel bad for all those children who have to grow up without parents, some who'll probably never know what parental love is, and some who won't even live to the age of 18 because they've given up on life long ago." She looked at her sisters. "You know what I mean?"   
  
Piper and Paige looked at each other then nodded.  
  
"We wonder about that too Phoebe. We all know life's not fair, but you gotta make the most out of it, because as we know, life's not very long." Piper told her sister.   
  
"Exactly why I go shopping every week for new clothes! Not only because the washing machine is shrinking mine, but also because what's the point in making money if you're not gonna spend it?" Paige smiled. "Come to think about it, let's eat out tonight." she suggested.  
  
Phoebe shrugged, Piper nodded "C'mon Phoebe it'll do you well. Plus it's been a while since you hung out with your sisters!" Piper nudged her.  
  
"Oh alright! What have I got to lose anyway? Okay, the upstairs bathroom is mine!" She ran upstairs.   
"The little rascal! Don't use all the hot water!!" Piper yelled and chatted with Paige.  
  
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"Hey Sar, we gotta go." Kate told her.  
  
"When will I see you guys again?" She asked them.  
  
"Tomorrow if you come to school! Please come! Even if it is for only one period…lunch, come during lunch. No one can tell you anything during lunch, unless you've got issues with the lunch lady too!" Kevin told her and chuckled.  
  
"Where are you spending the night, Sar?" Melissa asked her. Sarah shrugged.  
  
"I dunno. I'm not going back home, my father trashed my room looking for money again." She told her.  
  
"Spend the night at my house." Kevin winked at her.   
  
She laughed "I don't think your mom would be too pleased to see me there again. I'll probably go to my brother's."  
  
"You said that last time, and the next day I found out you slept in this old factory. Come to my house." Melissa told her.   
  
"No Mel, I don't want to get you in trouble." Replied Sarah.  
  
"I won't get in trouble…as long as you don't attack the dog again." She giggled and hugged her friend.   
  
"Are you sure? But her old Jack knows he liked being attacked!" Said Sarah with a grin on her face.   
  
"I know someone who would like to get attacked by you" Kate looked at Kevin who grinned.   
  
"Who me? What makes you say that! I'm such a nice boy." He put on an innocent look on his face. They all laughed.  
  
"Okay so let's go Sar, this place is starting to give me the creeps." Melissa told her.  
  
Sarah nodded and grabbed her bag. 


End file.
